Drying machine



M. T. SOHANIN May 23, 1950 DRYING MACHINE 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Oct. 16, 1946 m m m m M. T. SOHANIN May 23, 1950 DRYING MACHINE Filed Oct. 16, 1946 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 IN V EN TOR.

M. T. SOHANIN DRYING MACHINE May 23, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed Oct. 16, 1946 Big 5 Patented May 23, 1950 DRYING MACHINE Miguel Torrebiarte Sohanin, Finca Magdalena, Cohan A. V., Guatemala Application October 16, 1946, Serial No. 703,497 In Guatemala September 12, 1946 3 Claims. (Cl. 34102) This invention relates to drying machines of the gravity-flow type which, while useful for drying all sorts of grains, beans, and the like, have particular utility in the drying of cofiee beans.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a machine having a hopper with inclined bottom surfaces upon which cofiee beans are deposited and allowed slowly to slide down, the surfaces being not onlyheated by hot air in a chamber below, but also supporting a plurality of upstanding perforate tubes extending upwardly at spaced intervals for distributing the warm air from a chamber below through the shifting, sliding mass of beans so as to drive oil moisture. It is further intended to feed the beans, as they are allowed to drop from the inclined surfaces, into the chamber below, in which further drying occurs, and from which the beans are slowly jostled and expelled by a screw, whence they are passed to a recycling elevator and chute, and again into the hopper.

More broadly it might be stated that the object of the invention is to provide for slowly moving a shifting mass of material along an inclined surface and for injecting a drying medium, such as hot air into the shifting mass at laterally and vertically spaced intervals.

A more particular object is to provide a material drying machine having a hopper with a bottom of inverted V-shape, a plurality of perforated tubes extending through and upwardly from the hopper bottom, a hot air chamber below the bottom having side walls spaced from the lower edges of the hopper bottom to provide a gap therebetween, and a pair of elongated paddle wheels respectively disposed in the gaps, not only for controlling the speed at which the mass of material moves along and drops from the edges of the inclined bottom of the upper but also, in cooperation with the material passing through the gaps, for maintaining a satisfactory air pressure diflerential between the chamber and the hopper so that air will pass out the perforations in the tubes and into the mass of beans sliding down the hopper bottom.

In addition it is now proposed to provide, beneath the hopper having free edges from which the beans drop, a hot-air chamber for supplying air to the hopper Ventilating elements, or perforate tubes, the chamber having a V-shaped bottom for catching the beans dropping from the hopper so that the beans are further dried as they drop into the chamber and slide along the inward inclinations of its bottom to a screw conveyor.

As a further object, it is intended now to provide drying apparatus in which the largest masses of material undergoing constant treatment are moved along wide, inclined planes, on which the weight loads are almost static, in contrast with prior art gravity operated dryers wherein a relatively small stream of material is dropped pellmell along a zigzag or even almost straight vertical path. While relatively large masses are treated simultaneously, nevertheless it is a particular object to provide constant and universal ventilation, not only to drive Off moisture but also to avoid cooking of the material. It is noteworthy, also, that in the first run the material is first passed through the hopper having the perforate tubes extending upwardly through the shifting mass so that the external moisture is first driven off by the hot air blasting through the perforations, this moisture being carried up and away to the exterior without contact with any other of the material than the relatively small and inconsequential stream flowing into the hopper. In all conditions under which the material is subject to heat it is intended that it be constantly moved, jumbled, and subjected to a stream of Among other objects is the provision of a drying machine which may be transported, either as an entirety or as an easily, dis-assembled and assembled group of components, and set up for running in regions remote from any source of machinery but close to the source of material to be dried, without the necessity of elaborate foundations, and without expert maintenance of the machine or monitoring of the drying process performed thereby. Another feature is the easy replacement of the surface members subject to deterioration resulting from the combined actions of heat, and abrasion by the treated material.

These and other objects will be apparent from the following specification and drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation, partially broken away, illustrating the assembly;

Fig. 2 is a cross-section taken vertically through the drier; and,

Fig. 3 is a side elevation illustrating the transmission.

Referring now to the drawings, in which like reference numerals denote similar elements, the apparatus will be described in connection with its use for drying coffee beans, although it is to be understood that it might well be used for drying any granular material such as beans, grain, or even inorganic matter, and that gas or vapor other than hot air could be used.

In brief, dryer 2 is connected to a source 4 of hot air under pressure which passes first into a chamber 56, generally diamond-shape in crosssection, and upwardly through perforated tubes 38 which extend upwardly through an inverted V-shape bottom 39 of hopper 28, through the shiftin mass of beans, and thence out open top 28 to the atmosphere. Beans slide down bottom 30, are'allowed, by paddle wheels 58 to "drop off onto the V-shape bottom 58 of chamber 56, along which they slide to screw conveyor 12, are ex--- truded to elevating conveyor 86, and --then dumped back into hopper 25 to repeat the cycle until the beans are dried sufficiently.

The elevating conveyor 88 is conventionalya'nd the details form no part of" this invention. In conventional conveyors of this type, there are several expedients for discharging the work when completed. If it is desired to deliver the workat the bottom, an outlet is-provided or, ii at the top a switch "chute ari'angement diipl'icating -ehute 82 but eXtendiiig tothe %side' ofthe hopper 1 may be" used. In the -latter instance; removable gates are insertible for *block'ingeither chute.

I he source 4: ot-' hot air for drier 2 includes an air "cinpres'sor fi d-riven by a suitable -source of 'pewer- '(*not sh6wn) -v'vh'ich-forcesair through a pipe iif through the heat exehange section i 8 -of a furnace 1 2, and thence -tl'irough pipe l1 I 3 --into drier 2.

-Drier 2 -incl'u'des' a generally oblong-open-top casingflpreferably formed ofsheets of metal *comp'rising front andrearwalls l S-and -28;= and leftand fight-side- "walls 22 and 24 suitably secured-together along their edges to form-a -fairly 1 air-tightenclosure;this-enclosure being divided into two- 'essentiah portions, namely the hopper 26 andthe-hot air chamber 56.

Hopper 25; intowhicli the-beans-areinitially "poured-eas an open top 23- -and= a-bottom -33 -'formed of twoinclined --plates -32, *32 -preferably f'of' sheet nietal secured by th eir end edges fl 'to "side-walls 22*and- '24. 'Theinneredges 36 of -[p'lates'"""-3 2 are-joined' 'sdthatthe plates foi'rnan inverted V, somewhat in the nature of a pitched roof.

'rubes aa rigidly-'secured in holes--48 in -plates '3 2 are 'ifornredwith perforations- 82 so that-hot j air"e ntringtheir open lower ends 64" will pass therethi'ough. f'It-is of importance that tubes 38 are disposed "at ffre'quent flateral' intervals in plates732and that "perforations 42 are "closely spaced around the entire circumferences and aiong the entire leiigthsof the tubes -'soti 1at*'hot air isinjected throughoutt'he avalanche of'beans Sliding along'bottom 39. I

' The side edges l fi' of plates 32 are spacedffrom frontandmearfwalls '18}- and '28 of easing 'lfi'to define eiongated gaps 4'3 "therebetween," these "gaps being controlled by elongated-paddle wheels 50 having shafts 52 rotatably supported in bear- "ingg-54 affixed in'sidewa'lls '22 andZtso that; as

the paddle wheels areftu'rn'ed' by the" mechanism hereinafter"describedjthvbeans' are allowed to drop fromhopper 25 into a hot air chambertfi.

"Hot air=chanrber"56is vertically "defined" by the inverted V-shape bottom 39 of the'hopper,

and its own V-{shape bottom 58, the latter being formed by two flat plates 60 of sheet metal secured along their end edges 62 to side walls 22 and 24, along their outer edges 64 to front and rear walls" l8 and '26, respectively, and together along their inner edges fifi. Chamber 56 receives the hot air from pipe l4 through an opening 68 in right-side wall '22. A" closable'window 19' is "also provided inri'ght si'd'e wall 22 for inspecting 4 the interior of chamber 56, which is generally diamond-shaped in cross-section.

A screw conveyor '12 having a shaft 14 rotatably mounted in bearings 16 in side walls 22, 24

5 is disposed in the crotch of V-shaped bottom 58 so that the beans falling into chamber 56 are worked along the b'ott'omand out through an "apertured' disk '18 afiixed-on shaft-l4 and rotating in an opening 80 in left-side wall 24.

i0 Upon extrusion by screw conveyor 12, the

beans -fall into buckets B2 on the belt 84 an elevating conveyor 86, the details of which form no -part oi the'invention. Upon elevation by conveyor-tfi, the beans are dumped into a chute =-88-and thus returned to hopper 26, this recycling being continued until the drying process is completed.

*Power'" for the various driven elements is ob tained from a motor 9!) driving, via pulley wheel pulley 'iwheelrl til, belt 102 and-:pulley wheelriil l -.-the drive shaft l fifi --ior elevating lionveyori85. --Drive 'shaft l'llt drives; via pulley wheel '1 I33 and belt H8 a pulley wheel H2 on the external' -end of shaft 14 0f s'crew'conveyor-M. -i'Finally,-pulley *wheels H 4 "on sha-ft l4 dr-ive pulley wheels i1 6, I l 6,'- 'on the external ends of paddle wheel shai'ts 52 via 'belt' 'i -l-8,'l|8gone of which is twistedso -that' the' paddle wheels turn oppositely. '-It'- is -to beunderstood that the var-ious'dri've shaftsare all rotatablysupported'by asuitable framework, not- -'shown. T If desired}the -paddle wheels may be driven to-"oscillate by suitably gearing well known inthe' art; and-various other-power drives may-be used instead 'of the belt-system shown.

Theinventi-on embodied in the-apparatusuetailed above'isnot"limitedto the specific form disclosed; butris' intendedto cover allm'odifica- 'tions' and "equivalents within "the' scope of" the "followingclaims.

I claim:

1."In adevi cebfthe typed'escribed; a 'casin --having sidewalls and an open top; a'pair of fiat 'sheetsofn'ietal oppositelyinclined withr'espect to one'another" and *joined'together" along adj acent 'ed'ges"'to form "theridgebf a partition substantially of inverted V-sha'pe"in"cross sectiondisposed across said. casing below said'open top to define the bottom ofan" open-topped hopper "wit'hin'said'casing; anotherpair offiat sheets of "metal" foppositely" inclined with respect to" one another and joined together along adjacent edges to'fornithetrough of a partitiondisposed across saidoasing below the first'to" 'cl'efine' a chamber "below said hopper, the" lower edges of the first partition being re'spe''ctively spaced "fr'om"the "side" walls""whe"reby 'to'" defineTpassages i between said hopper and "chamber, elongated paddle wheels rotatably"disposedinsaid passagesjm'ea'ns 'for rotating "said""paddle"fwheels whereby" to (20 mounted in said holes 'sofias "to eXt'end upward from the surfaces'of the fifst par'tition','thelower ends of said pipes being open "and communicat- "ingwith said 'cha'mben means for admittingfair -to said-chamber. a horizontal conveyor. disposed in said-troiughand communicating with the exterior of saidcas'ing, ahd'me'ans for driving said conveyor.

2: In a" device of'thetypedes'cribed; a casing having side walls andan'open top; a pair of net "sheets of metarop positely inclined with respect to one another and joined together along adjacent edges to form the ridge of a partition substantially of inverted V-shape in cross-section disposed across said casing to define an opentopped hopper, another pair of flat sheets of metal oppositely inclined with respect to one another and joined together along adjacent edges to form the trough of a partition disposed across said casing below the first to define a chamber below the hopper, the lower edges of the first-mentioned partition being respectively spaced from the side walls to define horizontally elongated passages between said hopper and chamber, elongated paddle-Wheels rotatably disposed in said passages for controlling the passage of material therethrough, means for controllably rotating said paddle wheels, there being a plurality of openings disposed at spaced intervals through the first partition, tubes having perforated side walls affixed in said openings so as to intercept material moving along the hopper bottom, said tubes having open lower ends communicating with said chamber, means for charging said chamber with warm air under pressure, means for discharging material from said chamber, and elevating conveyor means for recharging said hopper with the discharged material.

3. In a device of the type described, a casing having side walls and an open top, apair of flat sheets of metal oppositely inclined wi-threspect to one another and joined together along adjacent edges to form the ridge of a partition sub'-" stantially of inverted v-shape',rinacrossasecti n chamber below the hopper, the lower edges of the first-mentioned partition being spaced from the side walls to define horizontally elongated passages between said hopper and chamber, the upper longitudinal portions of said hopper bottom being respectively disposed below? said passages, elongated paddle wheels rotatably disposed in said passages, a screw conveyor] rotatably disposed in the lower portion of-- said chamber, means for rotating said paddle wheels and said conveyor means for recharging said hopper with granular material, there being a plurality of openings disposed at spaced intervals through said hopper bottom, tubes having perforated side walls afiixed in said openings, said tubes having open lower ends extending into said chamber, and means for charging said chamber with warm air under pressure, whereby to dry the material in said chamber while injecting warm air into the material on said hopper bottom through said perforated tubes.

MIGUEL TORREBIARTE SOHANIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date ,;='63 3,221 Sorlle Sept. 19, 1899 767,594 Penagos Aug. 16, 1904 940,144 Geiger Nov. 16, 1909 1,058,291 Dennis Apr. 8, 1913 1,219,816 French Mar. 20, 1917 1,474,683 Morton Nov. 20, 1923 2,049,199 Dornfeld n July 28, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 490,585 France Jan. 4, 1919 

